Tottenham v Liverpool, Getty Images 09 January 2025, 00:10

This week in English football can be safely called a cup week, because apart from the English League Cup and the FA Cup, no other competitions will appear in the teams’ schedule. Probably, fortunately for football fans, because these matches have their own special entourage. And even in the later stages of such tournaments, it is very difficult to determine who is the favorite and who, accordingly, is the outsider, because everyone has come a long way and would hardly want to simply give up their gains.

Especially when it comes to the semi-final round, and even more so in a competition like the League Cup, where two matches are scheduled for each of the pairs, so here you can already build some strategies, and not rely on luck in an individual duel. With London’s Tottenham and Liverpool, that opportunity is a luxury, with Ange Postecoglou’s troubled side given another home clash after struggles against both Manchesters, while Arne Slott’s side still have some reserve in the form of a home game just in case.

And this evening this case came. The “Reds” played poorly in terms of attack, or more delicately, they did not play as intensively as was planned from the beginning. However, in the first half we didn’t talk about football – there was no place for him after Bentancourt fell on the turf in the penalty area in the eighth minute during a corner kick from the right wing and couldn’t get up on his own.

The “Spurs” player tried to bring him to consciousness for a long time, but he was taken on a stretcher directly to the dressing room, from where we were told that Rodrigo was responding to others and could even communicate with them, which, let’s face it, was encouraging. And no one will remember at that time that Dregushin should have scored a moment before, but Alisson parried a shot from close range for a corner.

But Liverpool was not without its losses either – soon, due to an injury, Kvansa ended the game prematurely, which was another loss for Slot’s team. Not as many as Tottenham, but still unpleasant. Moreover, the game clearly does not improve ahead, and only the moments of Gakpo at the end of the first half, to which 11 minutes were added for obvious reasons, gave hope that the “reds” would wake up after the break.

However, Liverpool did not play properly, and Tottenham continued to apply pressure and in some places catch opponents on already obscenely gross mistakes. As it was, for example, in the moment with Alisson, Bergvall and Porro failed to take advantage. However, not only the visitors, but also the team of referees made mistakes in this game.

Stuart Atwell initially drew a warning for Bergvall in the 68th minute for an alleged foul on Diaz, which he openly drew. And no one would have said anything, probably, if Bergvall had already committed a real foul in a tackle against Tsimikas at the end of the match, but for some reason he did not receive the second yellow, and in the next attack he took part in a goal attack and scored from a pass by Solanke from the right edge of the penalty area.

Of course, they will talk about it, because finally the VAR system was brought to the semi-finals and even the referees were forced to announce their decision to the whole stadium out loud. But the visa is still there. However, the complaints of the “Reds” could have been less loud if Trent and Mack Allister had scored in their moment in the middle of the second half. However, everything will still be decided only on February 6 at Anfield.

Tottenham — Liverpool 1:0
Goal: Bergvall, 86

Tottenham: Kinski – Porro, Dregushin, Gray, Spence – Bentancourt (Johnson, 15), Bissuma – Kulusevski, Bergvall, Son Heung-min (Werner, 72) – Solanke.

Liverpool: Alisson – Bradley (Alexander-Arnold, 60), Kwanza (Endo, 30), van Dijk (Konate, 80), Tsimikas – Gravenberch, McAllister (Konate, 80) – Salah, Jones, Gakpo (Diaz, 60) – Jota (Núñez, 60).

Warning: Bissuma, Bergvall